If your water heater performance has been in a slump while your energy bills have been out of the ballpark, these five tips can help perk up your showers and improve water heating costs at the same time.

Improve water heating costs

Poor water heater performance is an indicator of excessive standby heat loss, lack of maintenance, an aging water heater or any combination of the three. These tips can help:

• Mini flush: Drain about one gallon of water from the tank each month. This helps improve water-heating efficiency and protects components and tank from sediment accumulation.
• Insulate the tank: Water heaters constantly emit heat through the top and sides. This is called standby heat loss, and it’s the reason stored water must be reheated over and over. Install insulation specifically designed for water heaters (jacket or blanket insulation). For safety reasons, your HVAC professional should install insulation for gas-heated water heaters.
• Insulate the pipes: Insulate all hot water pipes with foam tubes or insulation wrap. Hot water temperature will increase up to four degrees, hot water is available faster and you will improve water-heating costs.
• Check the thermostat(s): Thermostats should be set to 120 degrees. If the tank has two thermostats, the upper thermostat should be 120 degrees, and the lower thermostat should be set to 115 degrees.
• Install a timer: Timers are excellent energy-saving devices that turn off the water heater during hours when hot water isn’t used, such as sleeping and working hours. While standby heat loss still occurs, it takes less energy to bring water to temperature a few scheduled times a day than to maintain hot water temperature 24 hours a day.

If you suspect your aging water heater may be failing, begin searching for a new water heater, so you won’t be rushed for a replacement if your system fails. Better yet, replace your old system now and take advantage of reinstated energy-efficiency tax credits of up to $300.

If you want to improve water heating costs, or if you have questions about a new water heating system, contact Powers Heating & Air today. We proudly serve homeowners in and around the Peachtree City area.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Peachtree City, Georgia and surrounding areas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).

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